BMI Baby Flight Cancellation

crocop

I recently booked a flight with BMI Baby from Manchester to Prague on the 29th Nov [returning 3rd December]. Due to my now having to buy a new car I'd going to have to cancel the trip, and use the spending money towards a deposit. The £150 I paid for the flight would obviously be a nice addidion to this, but it seems that BMI don't allow any form of cancellation...except death!

This is obviously something I could not have forseen, and don't see how you can enter [what is essentially] a contract with them which cannot be cancelled.

Any advice...?

Many thanks

Incapuppy

crocop wrote: »

This is obviously something I could not have forseen, and don't see how you can enter [what is essentially] a contract with them which cannot be cancelled.

It's called buying a non-refundable air ticket. Simples.

You could look into re-claiming taxes if you do not fly but this usually subject to an admin fee which can make the procedure pointless.

PolishBigSpender

Incapuppy wrote: »

It's called buying a non-refundable air ticket. Simples.

Simples...that's possibly my favourite catchphrase of the year

Indeed, as Incapuppy says, it's a non refundable ticket. If you wanted a fully flexible ticket, you were free to pay for one. I've had a look for your selected dates, and you could have purchased a return fare from Manchester to Prague via Zurich which was fully flexible for around 600 pounds. Oddly, the Business flex fare is cheaper than the economy flex fare on Swiss.

If you wanted your money back, you could have purchased an insurance policy which would have covered such eventualities.

You simply cannot have your cake and eat it - either you pay the price for fully flexible/refundable tickets, or you accept that you lose your money if you can't fly.

Caz3121

From the bmibaby site
I am unable to take my flight, how can I claim the tax back?
The only taxes we have a legal liability to refund are APD taxes. This equates to £10.00 per passenger for each UK departure point. Please note, bmibaby implement an administration fee of £20 per passenger

so not really worth the bother...also they charge £100 admin fee for a name change and given that your current flights can be bought for £61 don't think that is an option either

Incapuppy

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

If you wanted your money back, you could have purchased an insurance policy which would have covered such eventualities.

I'm not sure that is correct though - surely in the OP's case it is just disinclination to travel

PolishBigSpender

Incapuppy wrote: »

I'm not sure that is correct though - surely in the OP's case it is just disinclination to travel

Ah, I'm sure it's possible to get such insurance...just that it'll be very specialist and will cost a small fortune to buy

MancBrel

Your only option is to do nothing, in the hope that they contact you with flight amendments. This is not as far fetched as you might think? BMI Baby have done it to me. In this scenario you will have the option for a refund (unless it's only a slight time adjustment).

Good luck!

BusinessStudent

Crikey, £150 for a flight to Prague!

Im flying with Ryanair (although from Birmingham) for just £2 in a few days :-O

crocop

Jesus! The cost of the flight itself was only £16 for my girlfriend and I return, but the taxes and charges ballooned everything up! I think I'll have a look at Ryanair in future then!!! :T